III.A: Flagship Initiative - ED Data Express

Provide a web site designed to improve the public’s ability to access and explore high value State-level data collected by the Department’s Office of Elementary and Secondary Education (OESE).

Other Information:

The President’s Goals in Education are: • for the United States to become number one in the world in the percentage of population with a college degree by 2020; and • for the United States to significantly reduce gaps in high school graduation and college access and success by 2020. In order to achieve these goals, accurate, timely and reliable information is needed -both to make changes to drastically improve our education system and measure progress against the President’s goals. For example: • Parents need to know the strengths and weakness of the schools in their community when compared to each other and their neighboring communities. • Teachers need to know which instructional methods meet the needs of their students and which interventions are most effective in addressing difficult problems. • School administrators and policy makers need to know which programs are most effective in improving outcomes for students so programs that work can be scaled up and those that aren’t as effective can be improved or discarded. • Researchers need access to information to help determine what works and what does not, identify areas where more information is needed, and drive innovative ideas to improve outcomes for students. As technology rapidly transforms and improves the ability to share information and use it to improve outcomes for students, we must ensure individual privacy continues to be protected, people understand what the information means, and data is used appropriately. A combination of strategic actions will be taken as part of the Transparency in Education Initiative, such as its work on ED Data Express to improve access to high-value Department data and developing and implementing more robust technical assistance and guidance for ensuring privacy is protected. ED Data Express is a web site designed to improve the public’s ability to access and explore high value State-level data collected by the Department’s Office of Elementary and Secondary Education (OESE). The site is in the final stages of development and focuses mainly on data reported by States on key K-12 grant programs funded by OESE. The site currently includes data from EDFacts, Consolidated State Performance Reports (CSPR), State Accountability Workbooks, and the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES). ED Data Express utilizes a web-enabled database application that allows users to select a particular data element (or set of data elements) and view it in several different ways. The site includes current and previous year data on student performance, demographics, accountability, and some statistical components. Data can be viewed in three ways: a state profile page, a data element explorer, and a build-a-table page. The state profile pages include charts and tables with key data for each state. The data element explorer allows users to view a single element across all states, both graphically and in a table. The state table page allows users to build customized tables by selecting specific indicators and specific states. In additional to the data viewing tools, the site includes an “about” page with information about the collections and guidance for appropriate use, a page with definitions of important terms, a frequently asked questions page, and links to other education data resources. The site is designed to be interactive and to present the data in a clear, easy to use way, with options to download information into Excel or manipulate the data within the web site. Members of the general public, grantees, stakeholder groups, media, and Department of Education personnel, who are interested in K-12 grant-related data, are envisioned as its primary users. As such, the site is designed to accommodate different interests and types of users. For example, someone interested in quick information about a single state can view the state profile page for a general overview. Someone who is interested in information about a particular data element or who wants the flexibility to build a custom query can use the data element explorer or state tables tool. The three tools incorporate graphs and charts to help users visualize the data. Future versions of the site will include additional data visualization tools, such as a mapping feature and enhanced graphing tools. ED Data Express is not intended to meet the needs of individuals, researchers, or organizations looking to do complex analyses; for that reason it provides links to NCES tools, so that users who are interested in using full and complete statistics on the condition of education in the United States may obtain that data. NCES is the primary federal entity for collecting and analyzing data related to education in the U.S. and other nations. ED Data Express is also designed to interface with social networking applications, such as Facebook and Digg, to better share information in these newly emerging channels. As the public adopts new ways to access and use information, the more the Department can adapt and share information via these new channels, the more success we will have in reaching our audiences and addressing their interests. OESE expects to launch the site internally in early June 2010 and launch the site publically by July 1, 2010 contingent upon final Departmental clearance and approval. Promoting Transparency - All information contained on ED Data Express is currently publically accessible in State-specific files. However, it is published in various places on the Department’s web site, mostly in a PDF format. The information is difficult to find, burdensome to update, and frequently is released with significant delays. The burden of compiling and using the data in this format is very high, since a user must open every State’s PDF file and manually consolidate the information into a file that can be used for analysis. A design goal of ED Data Express is to provide an innovation with a clear “relative advantage” over the current process that is simple to use and provides various ways of viewing the data. In ED Data Express, the information is consolidated into one location, and users can quickly select the information they need, view it several different ways, and download it into Excel for further analysis. With the data more readily accessible and easy to explore, the site will facilitate the ability of States and grantees to learn from one another, and help the Department learn how to share information properly with people who want to look at data, but are less familiar with its use than researchers. Promoting Participation - The increased accessibility and ease of use improves the ability of people to view, consider, and use the State-reported data. It enables the public and grantees to identify States that may be getting better results or using different approaches, thus helps to inform their own decision-making and program development. In addition, the ED Data Express web site includes a user feedback survey that allows OESE to receive ratings, comments, and suggestions from users about the site. The survey tool is flexible, so that OESE can add different questions to encourage continued feedback and dialogue. OESE has discussed the web site at EDFacts and NCES conferences, and will continue to use those opportunities to discuss the site and solicit suggestions from attendees. OESE is also planning to meet with the EDFacts team’s EIMAC Standing Task Force, which is a group of approximately ten SEA representatives (some of which are EDFacts coordinators). EDFacts uses this task force as a “sounding board” for major new initiatives that they have proposed. OESE believes that this group could be a useful partner, especially in moving forward with the launch of the site and for future enhancements. Promoting Collaboration - OESE partnered with the Office of Planning, Evaluation, and Policy Development (OPEPD) EDFacts team on this project to more efficiently obtain the relevant data, receive assistance in the design of the site, and to use the EDFacts Metadata and Process System (EMAPS) to facilitate the collection and upload of data elements embedded in documents (e.g., Consolidated State Applications). OESE is working closely with NCES staff on the design of the Ed Data Express site, and will utilize their technical expertise to appropriately balance the site simplicity with the need to properly display data and document data sources and limitations. OESE met with the Office of the General Council (OGC) and the Family Policy Compliance Office (FPCO), the office tasked with administering the Family Education Privacy Rights Act (FERPA) (a law that requires protection of student records) and will continue to work with them to ensure that the site is consistent with statutory and regulatory responsibilities regarding privacy, confidentiality, security, or other restrictions. The process has included collaboration with Office of the Chief Information Officer (OCIO) to use Department web servers and meet IT security standards. Finally, OESE has held conversations with other grantmaking offices that are interested in making their grant program data more readily accessible. OESE will gather quantitative information on site usage by tracking numbers of web page hits. Additionally, OESE will use its Grantee Satisfaction Survey to solicit feedback from grantees. The Grantee Satisfaction Survey is an ongoing, government-wide survey that includes a series of benchmarked questions that are comparable across agencies. It also allows agencies to include program specific questions; OESE is taking advantage of this tool to collect input on 11 major grant programs, including several of the Recovery Act grant programs. Questions about ED Data Express will be added to this survey to examine the Department’s use of technology and its success in making State-reported data more accessible and easy to explore. The Department views ED Data Express as a first step rather than a finished product. The experience and lessons learned via OESE’s launch of Ed Data Express will offer a new and exciting way of learning how best to publish grant program related data for general audiences. As the site matures and expands, the governance structure for Ed Data Express will also need to evolve. To start that process, at the request of OESE, EDFacts created a working group within the Department’s Data Governance Board (that includes representatives of the other grant-making offices and key program support offices) to begin conversations about the sustained management and support of ED Data Express.

Indicator(s):

Indicator:1

Content